Mirage: Cursed Protector
by Dark Crystal Hedgehog
Summary: For our newest hero of the world of Sonic, Mirage, he faces a huge battle, a new villan, Proffesor Shane has concocted a flawless plan for taking Angel Island. But what will the biggest battle be, the battle for his home, the battle for love, or the battle for his mind.
1. Proluge: A Curse Is Born

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**This is my first story so coment, review and critisize PLZ**

**WARNING: This AU, and OC so if you do not like that, STOP READING NOW**

**PROLOUGE: A Curse Is Born**

4 Years after Main Series

3rd PERSON P.O.V

Long ago, during celebration of the moon and sun, two babies of Mobius were born at the exact same time. They both shared the same father, but were born from different mothers. That night, the King of Mobius came from his royal throne room, to one of his many extravagant dining halls to witness the weighing of the spirits ceremony, this determined if they were pure and would be allowed to continue to live in the kingdom of Mobius, or be sent far away, never to be seen.

The King asked his wisest and most humble elder to conduct the ceremony. The Elder began the ceremony smearing a special cream on each of the babies' foreheads, this allowed entrance into the babies' heart and souls. Almost immediately after, he knelt into a position in front of the copper coloured hedgehog, placed his hands an inch away from the sides of the baby's head & dived deep into the child's head.

The moment he entered, he was blinded by warm light and deafened by heroic music and laughter, so much so that he had to put his hands over his ears and squint.

Happy with what he saw, he exited the child's head. He regain his composure and walked over to the indigo-purple hedgehog baby, but before he could examine the child, beams of light shot out of the sky encircled the children and raised them into the air. The separate mothers, startled by this, tried to grab their children, but the elder told them it's no use and to stop.

Silence followed… then suddenly two pillars of light burst from the cloud cover, one white, the other black. The white light hit the copper colored hedgehog baby, while the black light hit the indigo-purple hedgehog baby. The light show lasted for a good part of a minute, but once it finished, the babies were dropped back into their separate mothers arms.

The Elder, unfazed with the light show, continued on with the ceremony. The Elder walked up to where the indigo-purple hedgehog baby was lying; crouched into the position he took for the first baby & proceeded cautiously into the child's head. At first it was nice, with the natural brightness and heat of the light; in fact it was actually quite pleasant. But then suddenly the lights blacked out & temperature dropped to a little bit below freezing, the Elder, shivering, looked around frantically for a sign of something, anything. He was granted his wish. Two emerald green slits, for which the Elder presumed were eyes, appeared. All he could hear were the terrible, shrill screams of men, women and worst of all, children. Plus he heard a high, sinister, maniacal laugh.

The Elder, shocked with what he seen, backed out of the child's head so quickly that the force of the recoil threw him against a nearby pillar. Stiff with horror, the Elder stayed lying on the floor for a while. When he finally stood up and regained his composure, he walked briskly towards the King and told him everything he had seen in both children.

The King and the Elder talked for 18 minutes way out of earshot of the others. When they came back to the group, the King, with a smile on his face and knowing this information, walked towards the mother of the copper colored hedgehog baby & told her that she and her child may choose any room in royal wing of the palace. The mother, ecstatic from this wonderful news, left the room at a quick pace.

The King, with a sombre look on his face, walked slowly towards the mother of the indigo-purple hedgehog baby and told her that her child shall be banished. The mother, shocked with this sudden bad news, started sobbing and pleading at the King to rethink his decision. The King, positive with his decision, held out his big, ringed hand for the mother to cease crying, and then he called over the elder and asked him to explain what he saw in the child's head.

The Elder took a deep breath, choose his word carefully and told her that her child will develop a curse that shall transform him into a terrible demon when he experiences an extreme traumatic experience. The mother, with a look of pure horror on her face, argued with both of them, telling them that, their wrong and that there making a mistake. The King, obviously fed up, ordered his guards to seize the baby and drag the mother away. The mother, racing for the door, was stopped by two big, muscly guards. They snatched the baby from her grasp, and dragged the mother kicking and screaming out the door, but before the mother was out the door she asked in a strained voice, where her baby was being sent? The King said, with a grim look on his face,

"He shall be sent to Angel Island, where he shall forever be alone".

**END PRO**

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**OK this story is about the PURPLE colored hedgehog.**

**If you want to know about the COPPER colored hedgehog, my friend and creative consultent, **

**Z Saber Mech, will be uploading a story soon. But for now, enjoy my story**

**Dark Crystal Hedgehog**

**LOUGE**.


	2. Chapter 1: On Angel Island

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**OK i'm back, sorry for the long wait, but you know, school, work, life and you know, all the same.**

**Well here it is my next chapter, enjoy.**

**CHAPTER 1: On Angel Island**

17 years later

MIRAGES P.O.V

I awaken from what little sleep I managed to get, sweating in fear of this dream I keep experiencing, I don't know why I keep have this dream, all I know is that it can't be good. Seeing the sun peeking over the horizon, I realize that it would be a lost cause to even think about going back to sleep, so I pull myself out of my leafy bed, put on my green tipped, black and white striped boots, my white gloves with 7 green spots on the top and a green emerald surrounded by a gold circle on the palms of both my hands and my green emerald, gold chain pendant.

After that I took a long walk to a nearby stream, it would have taken me less time if I flew there, but I don't like flying, even though I can fly, (which is kind of ironic isn't it). Well after that long walk, I washed my face and filled up my water skins, then I looked around for any berry bushes, grape vines or banana trees. Luck struck me for I found a small banana tree, a small blackberry bush and a large grape vine, (guess I'm eating good today).

After I finished picking all that fruit, I walked back to my leafy house, (again I could have flown, but I didn't), and made an improvised fruit salad for breakfast.

When I finished my breakfast, I sat on the dirt packed floor with my legs crossed, closed my eyes and tried to recall my dream from earlier...

After a while, my legs are aching and I have a vague image of my dream, all I can see is me, standing in the middle of a cave full of green crystals and what I think is smoke, I hear cold high laughing, and screaming, a girls screams. All of a sudden I can't breathe, the smoke seems to be grabbing me and trying to pull me down into some kind of vortex in the center of the cave, it's pulling me down deeper, and deeper, and now I'm screaming.

At that very moment, I hear a familiar voice that snaps me back to land of reality,

"Mirage, what are you doing? You were like screaming", asks Master Knuckles. (Master Knuckles has raised me since I was a little baby, so I'd call him more of a father figure than my master)

"Sorry Knuckles, I was just trying to… recall my dream" I said hesitantly. As if he got hit in the face, his demeanor changed to a more concerned expression.

"Are you still having that same dream, Mirage?" asks Master Knuckles, I just nod. Master Knuckles paces the room so rapidly that even I'm getting dizzy. Unexpectedly, he walked over to me, put one of his massive spiked hands on my shoulder and says to me.

"Come over to my hut after lunch, I might know what to do, but for now there's no point in sweating over this now, go and relax, take your panflute, and maybe do something with your spines you have got massive bed head", and with that he left.

Before I headed off, I took Master Knuckles advice and travelled down to the stream I found earlier to wash my spines. I've never really paid attention to my spines, but now that I've taken a proper look, I'm proud to say "that's my spinestyle".

My fur is an indigo-purple colour, I have two large spines at the back of my head that go upwards, marked with green streaks, while at the front of my forehead there are five distinct spines flared up and back, the two final ones covering up most of my ears. My 1st and 5th spines go up slightly then sharply down over my face clipped with golden spine bangles and my 2nd, 3rd and 4th spines have green streaks that run from the tips of my spines to my forehead meeting in a hollow circle.

Once I dried my spines, I grabbed a banana from a nearby tree for a snack later and my panflute and headed off to one of my favorite spot on the Angel Island, a steep cliff overlooking the ocean. Unfortunately, I had to fly there, I can handle small flights, but no more than 7 minutes that I can stay in the air or I start to freak out. When I did arrive at the cliffs, I sat down on the edge with my legs dangling over the edge, got out my panflute and started playing one of my favorite panflute melodies. I learned to play the panflute at the age of 9, I mastered it at 16. The reason why I'm so good is that it was the only thing to do on the island other than training, flying (which I'm not a fan of), running and, when ever Master Knuckles brings me a book, read. After about 4 minutes I finished playing, so I put the panflute down, lay back and look at the clouds.

I start to think about why Master Knuckles has forbidden me to see other people, am I an embarrassment to him? No, that's not it; I'm his best friend/son figure.

I've asked Master Knuckles who my parents are, but he always answers me with the same repetitive comment. "I don't know who your parents are; all I know is that I found you as a baby crying in those trees over there".

"Maybe there's a reason for that?" says a deep sinister voice in the back of my head. I call the voice Delusion for only I can hear it, I was 10 when I first heard from delusion, I was like "who are you what is this", he was quite annoying actually, popping in with these dark comments every now and then, but after a while, I decided to live with it.

"I'm just saying, maybe there's a reason why Master Knuckles says that?" Delusion says in his usual sinister voice.

"Yeah the reason is that he hasn't meet my parents" I say frustrated

"If that's what you believe", and with that, he fades away.

Delusion has left me thinking, maybe Master Knuckles has been lying to me, maybe he does now something about my past, but why do I care, I should trust Master Knuckles with my life, but there's something about what Delusion said that makes me wonder.

But there's no time to think about that now, it's past lunch time and I have to hurry to Master Knuckles hut, (If your late for Master Knuckles, he gives you a punch on the arm which leaves you rubbing your arm for hours). I eat the banana that I grabbed before while I'm flying as fast as I can (I had no choice, but to fly).

The minute I arrived, I noticed that Master Knuckles was standing out the front of his hut, with his arms crossed and shaking his head. I couldn't make out most of what he said but I heard a simple "you're late".

I said awkwardly in response "I know, I was preoccupied"

He gave that punch on the shoulder as I expected and told me to follow him.

He led me through a maze of trees and stone; we got lost many times.

We got close to where we were meant to go because, Master Knuckles told me to close my eyes and put a blind fold on, I did what he told me to without a second thought.

"Does it usually take this long to get to where ever we are going?" I ask.

"Shut up, I usually take a shortcut by burrowing underground!" he answers.

"I could have spin dashed after you", I answer back.

Master Knuckles swears under his breath so I couldn't hear it and face palms himself with one of his massive spiked gloved hands.

Eventually we arrived at our destination, Master Knuckles told me to stop, take off the blind fold and open my eyes. When I opened my eyes I was standing outside the Master Emerald Shrine! I didn't know how I should feel, honored or scared, for Master Knuckles never lets me near the shrine.

All I know now is, whatever Master Knuckles has planned is either, big, important or dangerous.

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**Sorry if your confused, but my story is OC and AU so I had to explain Mirage the best I can.**

**Don't worry though, the next 3 chapters will clarify things, so enjoy.**

**And as always, please leave ****COSTRUCTIVE**** criticism.**

**Dark Crystal Hedgehog**


	3. Chapter 2: In Memories Of Darkness

******A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**Sorry for being on haitus for so long, you know life and all that.**

**But here you go, this will be interesting.**

**CHAPTER 2: In Memories Of Darkness**

MIRAGES P.O.V

I lie on my back, cloud gassing, (for Master Knuckles has told me that we should wait until dusk, before we begin whatever he has got planned). I count all the different types of clouds shapes I saw; there were rabbits, bears, birds and I swear I saw a plane shaped cloud.

I soon get bored and started to play my panflute while I'm thinking about what Master Knuckles is going to do. These thoughts soon make me tired, so just close my eyes, you know, to 'rest'...

I was suddenly awoken, by Master Knuckles pouring some ice, cold water on me! I got up so quickly, that I hit my head on a nearby pillar. I see Master Knuckles laughing like an idiot, so I yell, with anger

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT, YOU COULD HAVE JUST SHAKEN ME AWAKE YOU KNOW".

Master Knuckles told me "you've been asleep since midday, and it was funnier to pour water on you anyway". Understanding, but still not happy, I stood up and followed Master Knuckles round the back of the Master Emerald Shrine.

As I'm walking, I can feel that Delusion has entered my subconscious. I bet he's curious as to why we're here; he can sense all the chaos around us. I ignore his constant "where are we going?", and keep walking, making sure I don't lose sight of Master Knuckles.

We soon arrive at a medium sized bonfire which flickered with an eerie glow; it radiated heat so much so that I could feel it all the way from over where I was standing. I noticed that there were small log seatings located around the bonfire, they looked very uncomfortable. Master Knuckles told me to sit down on one of the logs, I sat down without a second thought, after I sat down, Master Knuckles sat down himself.

After we sat down, Master Knuckles asked me to take off gold, green emerald necklace. I was a bit sceptical at his request, Master Knuckles doesn't usually ask me to do this because, the necklace controls my Chaos powers (and it's the only thing I have got of my father), but I trust him, so I take off my necklace and put it on the hard, dirt-packed ground next to me.

Master Knuckles threw some fine, black powder over the bonfire, transforming the flames a translucent blue, as Master Knuckles sits back down, I swear I saw faces in the fire, thinking that I'm seeing things; I rub my eyes to prove that I am.

Before I could prove that I was seeing things, Master Knuckles says to me with a solemn look on his face,

"Mirage, I'm going to enter your mind to see if I can find the source of your bad dreams, but because entering someone else's head is the ultimate invasion of privacy, I will only do it if you say I can, is that OK?"

I nod reluctantly.

"OK, now that it's alright with you, I'm going to put you under with a sleep serum", Master Knuckles said to me with a relieved look on his face. He passes me a small goblet of some kind of sweet smelling, pink liquid, (really, pink? How did he get that colour?).

I drank the pink serum without complaint, (even though it tasted worse than it smelt), almost instantly, I felt drowsy I was losing feeling in my arms and legs, and with a 'THUD', I feel on the ground slowly fading into darkness…

3rd PERSON P.O.V

Once Mirage was unconscious, Master Knuckles lifted him onto one of the logs, surged all of his Chaos energy into his head and 'mind jumped', (which means to exit your own body and enter someone else's head).

Once Master Knuckles landed in Mirage's mind, his eyes were blinded by gold and black lights. His eyes soon adjusted, standing in front of him were two doors; one was labelled_** 'PAST'**__, _the other _**'FUTURE'**__. _Master Knuckles, remembering that he was trying to find the cause of Mirage's bad dreams, instinctively opens the door labelled_**'PAST'**_and walked through it.

When Master Knuckles walked through the door, he was blinded by an extremely bright light, so much so that Master Knuckles had to close his eyes. Once the light faded away and Master Knuckles could open his eyes without fear of blindness, Master Knuckles found himself in the middle of a very thick, white haze; he couldn't see anything in any direction!

After about 7 minutes, the haze started to clear away, and just like that, with a feint "POP", the haze morphed into a castle dining hall scene, there were two long tables, long enough to seat over two hundred people, and there were four glass chandeliers, which Master Knuckles thought must have been really expensive, and he also noticed that the walls were beautifully decorated with scenes of harvests, celebrations and battles. Master Knuckles was confused, for all he knew, Mirage has never been off Angel Island, let alone near a castle!

Master Knuckles was about to walk away, when he heard footsteps approaching. Master Knuckles, unaware that no one could see him, ran and hid behind the nearest pillar he could find. Master Knuckles watched as four people walked into the dining hall, two women holding a baby each, an old looking man and a well-dressed man wearing a crown (he guessed that he was the King).

Master Knuckles watched as the old man was conducting the ceremony, it involved a lot of the old man standing still with his hands on the children's heads. The most interesting parts were when the children were raised into the air by black and white lights, (Master Knuckles didn't think a lot was pretty, but even he was awed by this spectacle) and when the older man was thrown against the pillar that Master Knuckles was hiding behind, by (Master Knuckles found this funny) an indigo-purple hedgehog baby, which Master Knuckles knew instantly to be Mirage, thanks to his distinctive spinestyle, except, baby Mirage didn't have the green streaks that adult Mirage has only just acquired recently, due to Chaos radiation.

What disgusted Master Knuckles was the fact that the King had ordered his royal guards to seize the purpley-indigo coloured hedgehog baby and to drag the mother out of the room, kicking and screaming, without her baby due to the fact that the King claimed the indigo-purple hedgehog baby to be _'dangerous'._

The mother was a lovely shade of lilac with emerald eyes and wearing only a pair of denim, worn out jeans and a flannelette, button up shirt with a couple of holes in it, in a sense, she was beautiful.

Master Knuckles felt both furious with the King because he claimed the child to be _'dangerous' _and that he ordered his guards to apprehend the mother because _'she was the mother of this filth', _and felt sorry for Mirage for having such a bad beginning to life_._ Master Knuckles felt like beating the guards and the King up so hard that they will have bruises, on their bruises, on their broken bones.

After the guards have dragged the mother clean out of the dining hall, the King shoved the indigo-purple hedgehog baby into the old man's arms and told him to dispose of this filth in the next garbage drop off, but to change the destination to Angel Island.

Before Master Knuckles could withdraw himself from behind the pillar and teach the King a lesson, the haze had returned and clouded the scene with an opaque cloud. Before Master Knuckles could question what was happening, the haze had morphed itself into a jungle scene. Master Knuckles didn't have to ask where he was, he knew exactly where he was, he was back on Angel Island, Angel Island at night to be exact.

Master Knuckles looked up at the sky to find his bearings. He found the North Star a little to his left and concluded that he was on the south side on the island. There was something familiar about this scene, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Just then he heard the sound of engines, he looked up and saw three planes approaching, when the planes were about 100m in front of Master Knuckles, they started dumping a whole lot trash out of the bottom. In the trash, Master Knuckles saw a baby's cot strapped to a parachute falling a bit too fast. Master Knuckles started sprinting in the direction of the baby's cot, for he knew exactly where he was.

Master Knuckles arrived just in time to catch the cot, but he didn't catch it, well to be exact, he himself didn't catch the cot, but the _'other'_ Master Knuckles caught the cot. Master Knuckles completely forgot that he was in Mirage's memories and thought he was re-living the first time he saw Mirage. He watched as the _'other'_ Master Knuckles calmed down baby Mirage, tucked the baby's blanket in and ran off to his hut.

Master Knuckles found the door out of Mirage's memories, opened it and walked through it.

Just as Master Knuckles was about to exit Mirage's mind, he noticed that the door labelled _**'FUTURE'**_was left slightly ajar. Master Knuckles thought that if he knew about Mirage's future, he could protect him from dangers (because even though Master Knuckles didn't like to admit it, he cared for Mirage deeply). Master Knuckles' curiosity became the better of him. He side-stepped through the door and this time was confronted by a black haze, somehow this haze felt a lot more sinister.

After about 4 minutes, the haze began to shift. Master Knuckles found himself in the middle of a great battlefield; one side was armed with hundreds of cyborgs hedgehogs, echidnas, cats and foxes (probably failed experiment of Dr. Eggman's) and the other side was maned by only a single purple figure, but he was facing away from the cyborgs, so Master Knuckles couldn't get a good look at him.

Just then the purple figure, surrounded by a green aura, flew up into the air, moved his arms in front of his chest, (so once again, Master Knuckles couldn't see him) coated himself with an electrical green energy (which Master Knuckles knew instantly to be Chaos energy) and threw his arms back, yelling out "CHAOS FRACTION", emitting a huge shock wave of Chaos energy, creating a ripple effect in the cyborgs, obliterating everything in its path.

The purple figure took out near on one thousand cyborgs with one attack! Master Knuckles could not believe that someone could be that powerful or destroy so many enemies so quickly.

Now that there were no cyborgs obscuring Master Knuckles view, he could finally take a good look at the purple figure.

The first thing that Master Knuckles noticed was that he was a hedgehog. He also noticed where the whites of the purple figure's eyes were meant to be were pitch black, broken up with two green slit-like eyes, he didn't seem to be wearing any visible clothing, except two golden cuffs with seven green spikes on each, his feet had three over-grown toes, the middle one being larger than the others, (it made it look like that he was wearing a giant, ugly pair of boots) his skin was grey, he had black fingernails and long fangs.

The most striking feature on the hedgehog was that he had green crystals growing out of the tops of his feet, the tips of his back-head spines and around his wrists. He kind of looked familiar.

Master Knuckles couldn't quite figure out why this hedgehog looked so familiar, until he looked up and saw that distinctive spine style, the five flared up spines with the 1st and 2nd covering most of his ears and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spines coloured with greens streaks meeting in a hollow circle on his forehead.

This was Mirage!

The only differences with his fur and spines was that his green streaks were more chaotic, his indigo-purple fur had a much darker tinge to it so it and the 1st and 5th spines weren't clipped down like they usually were, so now he looked more like Silver the hedgehog.

Master Knuckles didn't want to believe it, but he was forced to.

Master Knuckles ran straight for the door. He only just got through the door, when he heard the cold, sinister laugh form this…This, demon-like Mirage.

Master Knuckles closed the _**'FUTURE'**_ door with a 'SLAM', scared that the demon-like Mirage might try and break the door down. Master Knuckles waited for at least 5 minutes before moving away from the door. Satisfied that the demon-like Mirage wouldn't break down the door he surged all of his Chaos energy into his head and 'mind jumped' out Mirage's head.

Master Knuckles once he regained his stability, found the nearest log, sat down and watched Mirage as he snoozed, thinking to himself "what am I going to do with you?"

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**I hope that that was interestingly satisfing, I will post a lot more frequently.**


	4. Chapter 3: Anger Management

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**Sorry that i've been on hiatus for so long, you know 75.6% life and 24.4% procrastinating writing. Enjoy**

**CHAPTER 3: Anger Management **

MIRAGES P.O.V

I awaken in an unfamiliar bed, to the sound of chirping robins, for once I had a full night's sleep without a single nightmare. With the sun glaring in my eyes through the vine drapes, I took a look at the hut I apparently to be staying in.

The hut seemed to be one big room, the floor was dirt-packed, it had a bed made of a couple of big logs tied together with vines, a rock as a bed head and leaf blankets, pillows and a mattress up in the top left corner of the room (which was where I was lying), it was surprisingly comfortable. The hut had a grape vine and a stone bench up in the top right corner (I presumed it to be a kitchen). The hut had a great, oak, tree trunk table in the centre of the room (I thought that was pretty cool), there were a couple of vine-woven chairs scattered around the place along with a photos of people I don't even know, like there was one where a blue hedgehog had his arm wrapped around what I thought to a yellow fox, I quickly concluded that this was Master Knuckles' hut.

After I finished looking around, I try to recall what happened last night. I remember drinking a pink liquid and before that I remember…taking off my green emerald, gold chain necklace. I instinctively move my arm towards my chest, to see if it was still there. To my shock, it wasn't. Instantly jumped out of bed and started to look for my chain and pendant, saying to myself "where is it?!"

I nearly turned the whole hut upside down in the hopes of finding it, but I didn't find anything except a note from Master Knuckles, it said,

'_Morning Mirage, I hoped you had a good sleep. Anyway, I know that you are looking for your necklace." _

(Master Knuckles knows that I like to call it a pendant and chain, but he deliberately calls it a necklace to peeve me off)

_. "So I thought I would set up…a treasure hunt for you. The prize, your necklace back and maybe something special. Anyway, your first clue is on the back. I need some space to think about things, so if you do find your necklace early, DON'T DISTURB ME UNTIL 2.00 PM. Enjoy the hunt_

_Yours sincerely_

_Master Knuckles"_

"Great", I said to myself in frustration. Not only does Master Knuckles take my chain and pendant, but he also expects me to go on a treasure hunt for it! I guess I have no choice. My chain and pendant is the only thing that keeps my Chaos powers from going into meltdown, thanks to an oversized green crystal that Master Knuckles says came in the cot with me. Without it, the chaos energy would soon explode within me.

So I got up out of bed, put on my boots gloves and spine-bangles, walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a bunch of grapes, walked outside and turned over the page to the treasure hunt clue, the clue said,

"_Go to the highest point of the cliffs"_

"Well, that's…e-easy", I said to myself with false courage. The cliffs are very high, the only way up there is to tunnel or fly, but since I can't tunnel like Master Knuckles, I have to fly.

I started walking towards the cliffs, trying to spend as much time on the ground as possible. On my way there, I came across a family of robins. The babies were learning how to fly. Interested, I sat down on a nearby rock and watched.

At that moment, Delusion thought he might say 'hello', if you know what I mean.

"What's going on here?" questioned Delusion in a deep, cold voice.

"Well, if you must know, the mama robin is trying to teach her babies to fly."

"Oh, so she is trying to teach them a skill that you are too scared to use." Delusion said in a cruel voice.

"That's not funny", I responded with an embarrassed look, twiddling with my thumbs.

"Why don't we knock the baby birds out of the sky? You know for…fun."

Outraged with Delusion for even suggesting the idea, I order Delusion to go away, but of course, he doesn't.

After about ten minutes, the babies have flown three times around their tree and I was getting bored, so I stood up and continued my way towards the cliffs. I soon came up to a medium sized chasm. I knew that I had to start flying now, so I sucked down my fear and forced myself into the air. As long as the wind continued to stay a cool breeze, I was confident that I could make it without freaking out.

I landed on the cliffs shortly after, but not without some difficulty, and when I mean difficulty, I mean Delusion difficulty. He kept on reciting poems where all the heroes seemed to die horrible deaths in the end, it was very depressing.

After I re-read the clue twice, I scanned the area for anything that might refer to the clue, but all I could see were a lot of rock mounds and a couple of trees. I thought that maybe the clue was on top of one of those rock mounds, so, as quick as my legs could carry me, I raced up very large rock mound, but there was nothing on that rock mound, nothing at all. I hadn't given up hope just yet. I raced from rock mound to rock mound, hoping that the clue was somewhere, anywhere!

My hopes have been let down once I climbed up the last rock mound and finding nothing. I sat down on the rock mound I was standing on and just started to hum, while looking at a particularly tall tree, and then it struck me. Maybe Master Knuckles didn't mean at the top of a large rock mound, maybe he meant at the top of a tall tree! So I ran up to the tallest tree I could see within 50 metres and started to climb it.

I was halfway up the tree, when I saw a piece of paper glued with tree sap to the side of the tree. I plucked it from the tree and slid back down, landing on my ass. When I regained feeling in my ass, I held out the note and started reading it, it was written in slightly rushed and messy handwriting and in all capital letters. It said

"_THIS IS THE LAST CLUE, I HAD INTENDED FOR THE TREASURE HUNT TO GO FOR LONGER, BUT SOMETHING CAME UP. PLUS I COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO WRITE ON THE OTHERS, SO TO MAKE IT UP, I MADE THIS LAST CLUE EXTRA DIFFICULT AND CRYPTIC, ENJOY._

Oh, so when I figure out this clue, I find my chain and pendant. I flipped the page over and the clue said,

"_Go to the place where the darkness becomes the light."_

Oh, this one is a bit tricky, Master Knuckles wasn't kidding when he said he would make this one 'extra difficult'.

I started rolling through places on Angel Island in my head, trying hard to find a match, but nothing seemed to match, except...Hanging Rock. But Master Knuckles has told me that Hanging Rock is dangerous, but then again, he never told me to stay away (it's like he's tempting me, I guess it wouldn't be the first time).

So, after I ate some of my grapes, I started making my descent from the cliffs, it was much easier going down than it was going up. Once I'd landed on solid ground, I started making my way towards Hanging Rock.

I could feel the Chaos energy building inside me. It took me the good part of two hours to get to Hanging Rock. Hanging Rock was once a great mountain, but generations of erosion have transformed it into an amazing collection of caves, all-in-all, a great environmental monument.

There were cave openings all over, decorated with fluorescent blue glow-worms and bellflowers. The most spectacular feature was the giant, tear-shaped rock, hanging over the main entrance to the cave system, that's why it's called Hanging Rock.

I scanned the area for any notes, but all there was were trees, bushes and rocks.

"Why can't you ever be straight up da-ugh, I mean, Master", I say to myself, under my breath. I presumed that I have to go into the cave to find the so called 'treasure'. Before I walked into the caves, I ate the rest of my grapes and discarded of the vine.

I then walked into the cave and was instantly swallowed by darkness, I continued slowly and shakily. I never told Master Knuckles, I was afraid of the dark. When I was little, I got lost in one of the forests and came out on to an open plain at night. In the darkness, I saw an ebony-black hedgehog with crimson-red streaks. He scared me half to death because of his long fangs, the scars and his rough and ragged chest fur. He never made eye contact with me, but I could tell that he knew that I was there. I hope to never see that hedgehog ever again.

On the same night, I saw a cyan light shot across the sky in the moonlight. I could make the shape out to be what I presumed to be a silver hedgehog. He was kind enough to give me a friendly, little wave, but I couldn't help but notice that his spines look kind of like mine.

I ignited my hands with a green aura-like light and continued walking, constantly hitting my head on hanging stalactites, or is it stalagmites, I never could tell them apart

Anyway, I kept on walking until I came up to a fork in the road. Not being able to see down either of the tunnels, I charged both my hands and shot two streams of green light down both tunnels. The right seemed to be clean, but the left had skeletons of rats and birds scattered all over the walls and ground (I made a mental not to go down that tunnel, ever). I continued to walk down the right corridor. I notice a very peculiar sound is coming from the end of the tunnel along with an eerie light. As I'm walking, I wonder what Master Knuckles means by 'I need some space to think about things', what could those 'things' be?

I soon reached the end of the tunnel; I was greeted by a great big circular room of crystals. There were crystals all over the ceiling, big ones, little ones, red ones and blue ones, but no green, medium sized crystals (now that's just ironic, you can be a real prick sometimes Master Knuckles).

I re-read the clue over and over again, but I couldn't figure out how this room had and relevance to the clue. I can fell the Chaos energy within me threatening to explode; I was clutching my chest, knelling on the ground. I was about to stand up and walk away when something caught my eyes. I saw a giant rainbow crystal on top of the ceiling. I was mesmerized by its sheer beauty.

I was watching the beautiful crystal for about two minutes, before I noticed that the light coming from the crystal was being directed at the only spot on the wall not covered by crystals. I walked over towards the spot on the wall and took a closer look. To my surprise, the spot on the wall was fake! It was made out of a lot of little rocks clumped together to make it look like one big rock.

I pulled out all of the little rocks one by one. Behind the rocks was a bulgy woollen blanket. I lifted up the blanket and to my delight, my chain and pendant was underneath. I snatched it up so fast that I think I pulled a shoulder muscle. I pulled my pendant and chain over my head and around my neck. I let out a sigh as I instantly feel my Chaos energy drop down to safe levels.

I then remember what Master Knuckles said in the 1st note and looked back underneath the woollen blanket. There was a pack of there was a pack of paints of all different colours, a stack of fresh paper and two new books titled _'Gone With The Wind' _and_ 'A Guide To Chaos: From Chaos Control To Chaos Emeralds'._

I was really happy with my new gifts, but these must've cost a fortune, I don't think that I could accept these. But Master Knuckles would probably say no to me trying to give them back.

So I packed up the books, paints and paper in the woollen blanket, walked out of the cave and started making my way home.

On my way home, I came across some holes, almost like tunnels. Out of curiosity, I curled myself into a ball and did what Master Knuckles calls a 'spin dash' down the one of the tunnels.

I soon came up and out of the tunnel into a clearing near the Master Emerald Shrine, how I know I'm near the Master Emerald, I don't know, it's a sense, I guess.

I walked around the area for about nine minutes, but I didn't see a thing. After another 2 minutes, I started to hear chanting of some kind coming from my left. I followed the source of the chanting, until I came across a sort of grass-leaf-like tent. I peered through a hole in the tent and found myself watching a greyish-red coloured echidna wearing a brown trench coat and yellow, red and green army boots. It was Master Knuckles, well duh, who did I expect, a 'blue' hedgehog. Master Knuckles was holding two perfectly cut gems, one was purple and the other was yellow. I could sense that whatever these gems were, they were extremly powerful. I have felt this energy from only one thing before and thats the Master Emerald.

I continued to watch as Master Knuckles went on with his chant, I couldn't get most of the words because he was talking so fast, but I did get some words about chaos, destruction, mayhem, you know, the 'happy' stuff.

As Master Knuckles was chanting, the two gems were radiating an eerie glow and floating mysteriously. Master Knuckles was soon finished with his chant and was now mumbling to himself

"where are you, I felt you before."

I couldn't help myself, I walked to the front of the tent, walked through the flap like door and said

"what are you looking for master?"

When I said that, Master Knuckles literally jumped out of fright.

"Mirage..., don't do that", Master Knuckles said clutching his chest.

"I might have been a great warrior when I was your age, but i'm much older now. Anyway, what are you doing here, it's not 2:00PM yet, is it?"

I look up at the sun.

"yeah it's actually 2:30PM . what were you doing and what were you looking for?"

Master Knuckles gave me one of those scanning looks that you can't help but think he can read your mind.

"Well your gonna find out anyway, I was trying to pinpoint the location of the Chaos disturbence that I felt earlier",

Master Knuckles said with a 'matter-of-fact' expression. It took me a couple of seconds to realise what that meant.

"Your gonna leave me on this island again!"

Master Knuckles nodded.

"I never get to leave, why do you insist on keeping me on this island?!", I said with an intense look on my face.

"It's better off for you here"

"But I can help!"

"Your not coming. No one can see you for your own safety", said Master Knuckles clearly getting annoyed.

I stood much taller and said to Master Knuckles' face

"this time your not leaving me here, I'll follow you, fight you if i have to".

I put up my hands in a threatening manner. Master Knuckles punched so quickly and with so much force, that it knocked me on the ground. I was slowly fading into unconsciousness.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of rollin' thunder, it was kind-of soothing. I opened my eyes groggily, stood up and instantly felt the pain of what I presumed was a broken nose. I then remember how I got it, Master Knuckles. He punched me in square in the nose, knocked me out & left me here, while he goes on a mission without me. I was so angry with Master Knuckles, I blasted a rock to dust with my Chaos hand beams, but it wasn't enough. I flew ip into the air (not caring about my height fear at the moment), charged up my powers and blasted two powerful, electrical, green beams of Chaos continuously from my hands while I was spinning, screaming

"I HATE YOU MASTER KNUCKLES!"

I was releasing so much Chaos energy that I was causing the storm clouds to swell in size, the cool part was the storm's lightning was turning emerald green. The lightning struck something that I didn't see before, I didn't know what it was, it had a four metal blades on the top spinning rapidly, I presumed thats how it flew. I could hear the screams of a girl! Whatever was struck by lightning, was falling out of the sky at a tremendous speed. I didn't know what to do? So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I flew under the thingy, put my hands underneath and tried to keep the thingy from crashing and letting the girl die.

It didn't crash, thankfully, but it did land with a less than comfortable 'THUD'. I pulled myself from below the wreck, pulled open the thingy's doors and pulled out a girl with blue clothes and yellowy blonde hair. She seemed to be same age as me, give or take. The last thing I heard from her was,

"Who.. are.. y-..." Then she blacked out, falling limp in my arms. I laid her down next to a blackberry bush, sat next too her and said to myself while weeping slightly into my hands,

"This is all my fault."

**A/N AUTHORS NOTES**

**Be sure to leave a review, I would love more critisisim about my story.**


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